This morning, a man wanted in connection with the deaths of 39 people discovered in the back of an Essex lorry will appear in court.
Marius Mihai Draghici is suspected of being involved in a plot that resulted in the deaths of the Vietnamese nationals, whose bodies were discovered in a lorry container on October 23, 2019.
The 49-year-old was detained by Romanian police in August and then extradited to the United Kingdom.
It is the result of the execution of a European Arrest Warrant.
He is now in the custody of Essex Police and has been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to aid illegal immigration. He is scheduled to appear in Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court this morning, Saturday, October 29.
The charges come one week after the tragic incident’s third anniversary.
After paying people smugglers more than £10,000 each to travel to England, temperatures inside the container had reached 38.5C (101.3F).
The lorry had traveled from Zeebrugge, Belgium, to the Essex port of Purfleet.